Hello there .....long time ...no news ....we've been busy!
I've been learning the art of mastering a real, 18th century, wood-burning oven - you know the kind the French built in their gardens after 1789 - the French Revolution !! Any other nation would have managed to bake bread in their kitchen - over the fire or whatever - but here, food is all-important, bread, a daily feature and in the past, beautiful outhouses with refractorty bricks were built 'dans le jardin'!
Take the word for bread - pain - I've learnt that the word for 'friend' comes from bread....i.e he, with whom one shares one's bread - copain!
But, the bread ovens weren't only for bread - everything can be cooked in an oven - the taste, second to none...
Whole pigs were cooked, rice puddings, roasts, terrines and much more...
Fascinating stuff...great food.....great fun!
